WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump told Fox News on Sunday that 48 leaders have been killed in U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.

"It's moving along. It's moving along rapidly. This has been this way for 47 years," he was quoted as saying in an interview with Fox News. "It's moving along rapidly. Nobody can believe the success we're having, 48 leaders are gone in one shot. And it's moving along rapidly."

(Reporting by Bo Erickson and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Paul Simao)

Iranians were experiencing a mix of shock, grief and joy after the death of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Israeli and US strikes extended into a second day Sunday.

The attacks unleashed on Saturday killed Khamenei and top military leaders and prompted Iranian authorities to retaliate with strikes on Israel and across the Gulf.

At the first reports of Khamenei's death, many Iranians erupted into cheers from apartment buildings in the capital Tehran while others blared car horns and blasted music in the streets.

Shattered glass lay strewn across the streets of a residential area of Tel Aviv on Sunday, the day after an Iranian missile strike left one woman dead, but residents insisted they could withstand further attacks.

The US and Israel launched a wave of strikes against Iran on Saturday, sparking a rapid retaliation from Tehran which continued to send people running to shelters under wailing sirens and overhead blasts on Sunday.

WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) - Three U.S. service members have been killed in action as part of U.S. military operations against Iran, the U.S. Central Command said in a statement on Sunday.

Five others were seriously wounded as part of Operation Epic Fury, it said.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Paul Simao)

The US military on Sunday said three service members have been killed and five seriously wounded in the war against Iran -- the first casualties announced on the US side.

The news, which could have serious political ramifications in Washington, came as President Donald Trump emphasized successes in the operation, announcing that nine Iranian naval ships had been sunk and not referring to the US deaths.

The United States and Israel launched massive bombardments against Iran and killed its supreme leader Saturday, with attacks ongoing Sunday.

By Yousef Saba, Jaidaa Taha and Jonathan Saul

DUBAI/LONDON, March 1 (Reuters) - At least three tankers were damaged off the Gulf coast after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran triggered Iranian retaliation that put merchant ships at risk of collateral damage, shipping sources and officials said on Sunday.

Risks to commercial shipping have surged in the past 24 hours, with more than 200 vessels including oil and liquefied gas tankers dropping anchor around the Strait of Hormuz and surrounding waters, shipping data showed on Sunday.

Bashar al-Assad, Nicolas Maduro and now Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In the last 18 months, Russian President Vladimir Putin has lost several key foreign allies -- and there is little that the Kremlin, bogged down in Ukraine, can do about it.

Tehran has stood by as one of Russia's closest backers throughout Moscow's four-year offensive and the Kremlin had earlier called for restraint amid reports of imminent US military action in Iran.

By Raghed Waked, Amr Alfiky, Timour Azhari and Rula Rouhana

DUBAI, March 1 (Reuters) - As Iran fired a barrage of drones and missiles at Gulf States in retaliation for U.S. and Israeli strikes, some in Dubai ran for cover and others froze at windows, watching the sky as if trying to make sense of something that had seemed impossible.

March 1 (Reuters) - A Palau-flagged oil tanker under U.S. sanctions was hit on Sunday off Oman's Musandam peninsula, injuring four people, the country's maritime security centre said, without specifying what hit the vessel.

The attack followed earlier drone strikes elsewhere in the Gulf country, at the commercial port of Duqm on the Arabian Sea.

The incidents mark the first time targets in or near Oman have been hit following a wave of retaliatory strikes by Tehran on Gulf states after joint U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran that have plunged the region into a new war.

MILAN, March 1 (Reuters) - Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said on Sunday that he was returning to Italy from Dubai, where he had been stranded with his family after flights were suspended because of the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran.

The minister left Rome on Friday evening aboard a civilian flight to join his family, already in Dubai on holiday. He was scheduled to return to Italy on Saturday afternoon.